SIDS - Can It Be Prevented At All?

Becoming a new parent is one of the most joyous occasions that any human being can ever take part in. Witnessing the birth of a child is a miraculous occasion that many people witness each and every day. It is the start of a new bloodline and is a sign of hope and joy for the parents who have produced a child. Unfortunately, sometimes there are outside factors which prevent a child from growing up and having a future altogether. One of the most unfortunate things that can happen to a newborn is to become another SIDS statistic.

SIDS, standing for sudden infant death syndrome, is one of the more terrifying experience is that new parents should be familiar with before giving birth. It is something that claims the newborn lives of over 3000 infants annually, easily becoming one of the most horrific experiences of any parent's life. The scariest thing that parents will have to realize about this deadly affliction is that there is not a single preventive measure that guarantees your child is out of the clear completely.

While there is not a definite guarantee that any preventative measure will prevent your child from SIDS risk, there are many measures one can take in an effort to lower the chances of a SIDS a occurrence. Many of these theories have been backed up by positive statistical data in regards to SIDS related deaths, making many of them much more prominent than other methods.

Perhaps the most important and definitely the most widely circulated measure in order to prevent SIDS is to make sure your child falls asleep on his or her back. Allowing your child to sleep on their stomach as an infant is widely quoted as one of the worst things you can do if you are concerned about SIDS. Statistics have shown that once a popular study was published that urged new parents to keep their child sleeping on their back, SIDS related deaths dropped over 50%, making this the most popular method of prevention.

Another method that new parents should always take into consideration, and not just related to SIDS, is to keep the mother's body in very good condition before giving birth. No pregnant mother should ever be in a situation where secondhand smoke is being inhaled into her lungs. This of course we'll obviously include smoking themselves, which is incredibly harmful to the small baby residing in their stomach. They should also never be partying or drinking alcohol, and of course they should never take part in recreational drugs that haven't been prescribed by a medical official.

The better care you take to your pregnant body, the more likely it is that you will deliver a healthy baby, effectively lowering their chances of becoming a SIDS victim.